Kandayon
KOTA KINABALU: Chief Minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Haji Noor’s call for the state of emergency to be extended shows that he is a responsible leader who has the people’s interest at heart.
“I don’t think his call has anything to do with political survival but based purely on his grave concern for the safety, health and wellbeing of the people,” Federation of Rural Tourism Association Sabah (FERTAS) president Walter Kandayon said.
Kandayon agreed with the State Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GBS) government’s view that if the emergency is to be lifted the possibility of by-elections for the two vacant seats in Sabah – Batu Sapi and Bugaya – to proceed must be taken into account.
He opined that even if a by-election for the Bugaya State seat is held and assuming the opposition wins, it would not affect the position of the State GRS government because it holds a comfortable majority in the State Assembly.
“However, to hold a by-election when the Covid-19 new cases continue to rise daily, while our vaccination drive is still on-going is tantamount to endangering the people’s health,” he said.
Kandayon begs to differ with socio-political analyst Awang Azman Pawi’s reported contention that GRS’s recent call to extend the Emergency was for political survival and will affect the coalition’s image as it goes against the public sentiments of wanting the emergency to end.
“Sabah had a first-hand experience on this matter in September of last year when the head of the Warisan-led State government, Datuk Seri Shafie Apdal decided to call for a snap election,” Kandayon said.
“Instead of acceding to the fact that the Warisan-led state government had lost the confidence of the State Assembly’s majority, he called for a dissolution of the Assembly to pave the way for state election.
“He (Shafie) was oblivious to the fact that the mass gathering of people will cause a spike in Covid-19 cases,” he said.
Before the election, Sabah was posting a gradual decrease in positive cases but after the elections, which Warisan and its allies lost, the cases rose sharply to new highs, he said.
“Since then, the total Covid-19 cases in Sabah had jumped to 66,978, which is nearly 10 per cent of the country’s positive cases of 678,764,” he said.
“I strongly believe the call by Hajiji and other GRS leaders for extension of the emergency is to protect the people,” he said, while commending the government’s concerted effort to step up vaccination to achieve herd immunity.
Any activities that could possibly lead to a spike in Covid-19 cases ought to be avoided and all quarters should complement the government’s effort and strategy to flatten the curve.
“Tourism players, including those in the rural areas, have been severely affected by the pandemic and we are banking on the on-going mass vaccination to flatten the curve in Covid-19 cases,” Kandayon said.